Sodium bisulfite (usually shown by formula to be NaHSO.sub.3) has heretofore been used for many commercial purposes, such as a preservative for prevention of the deterioration of liquids such as food stuffs and pharmaceutical solids, and has been used medically externally for parasitic skin diseases and internally as a gastrointestinal antiseptic.
Anticoagulants and antithrombotics are used in a variety of clinical conditions including, for examples, chronic phlebitis, post-operative states to prevent thrombosis of deep veins (thereby to avoid, for example, development of pulmonary emboli), strokes, heart attacks, arterial blood clotting (as demonstrated, for example, by platelet aggregation).
An anticoagulant agent is a substance which inhibits coagulation of the blood.
An antithrombotic agent is a substance which inhibits formation or development of a thrombus (or thrombosis). For present patent purposes, it will be understood tht the term "thrombus" or equivalent includes "embolus" unless otherwise specifically indicated. In general, an antithrombotic agent may display anticoagulant activity.